LAPD: 3 dead, 2 injured in San Fernando Valley shootings

SAN FERNANDO (CNS) - Three people were killed within 60 minutes at three separate northern San Fernando Valley locations early today, and detectives believe the murders may be related.

A married couple on their way to church were both reportedly hospitalized in grave condition following the first attack. Their 22-year-old, wheelchair-reliant daughter was killed, but two smaller children spared, as the family was attacked on its way to early Mass in San Fernando.

The dead woman was identified by church members as Mariana Franco, 22. The wounded persons were unofficially named as the father, Jose Franco, and the mother, Beatriz Franco.

That was the first of three episodes of gunfire reported at three separate addresses in and near the City of San Fernando between 5:58 and 6:45 a.m., police and sheriff’s deputies reported.

A suspect vehicle from the first and last murders was described as a tan or light-colored SUV with tinted windows. There was no further description of the suspect or suspects, who were apparently still at large.

The Francos, riding to early Mass in a pickup truck, was gunned down in the first attack, which was at 5:58 a.m. in the 1400 block of Celis Street in downtown San Fernando.

“A car was driving erratically behind them,” said San Fernando police Chief Robert Parks in an interview that the San Fernando Valley Sun newspaper posted.

“They thought the person was drunk and decided to pull over,” the chief said. “The car pulled right next to them and then starts shooting.”

The daughter was killed instantly. Her father got out of the pickup and collapsed on the sidewalk, the San Fernando Valley Sun reported.

Two smaller children in the pickup were not physically injured, the newspaper reported,

San Fernando police performed CPR on the man, who along with his wife was alive on arrival at a hospital.

The second murder was at about 6:35 a.m. at the Sylmar Recreational Center in the 13000 block of Borden Avenue. That victim was first described as a man, about 25 to 35 years old.

And about 6:45 a.m., officers responding to the 12900 block of Filmore Street found the body of a black female, dead inside a vehicle with a gunshot wound to the head.

Police scheduled a news conference at 1 p.m. to provide information, but it was delayed.